How to Make an Interior Stylish with Decor: 7 Tips from a Designer-Decorator

In the field of decoration, you can never go too far, so a decorator must find clever tricks. On one hand, you need to make it as beautiful, functional and luxurious as possible, while on the other, spend as little as possible and avoid major renovations.

A designer-decorator and founder of Designbox studio has created a small guide that will help improve any space without renovation or huge investments. It's especially useful for rental apartments where it's hard to make major changes to the layout.

Anastasia Gromova, Designer-Decorator, Founder of Designbox Studio, Blog Author @anastassya_gromova. Anastasia brings various decorator projects to life. She helps create a new or refresh an old interior, 'packs' apartments for rent, and also completes projects with furniture and decor items.

Declutter

Every apartment has things, and over time, there are more and more of them. The main question is how to store these items. A vintage Soviet cabinet, maybe dear to the heart, but it doesn't look great anymore. But the problem isn't only with furniture from the USSR era. Look around: endless figurines and souvenirs on shelves, various cups and mugs mixed together on the kitchen counter, magnets on the fridge, different jars and vases in the bathroom — all of this makes an apartment cluttered and untidy.

Home Staging for Rent: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Start by sorting through and discarding items that have served their purpose and no longer serve any useful function. Then carefully plan storage systems for the items. If you buy stylish boxes or containers, they don't have to be hidden under the sofa or placed in a storage closet — the items can be right in the room.

You have many books but little clothing? Then it's safe to do away with a large wardrobe — instead, design a beautiful library. In the bathroom, you can buy identical woven baskets, trays for bottles and jewelry — organize all small items in them. Identical dispensers for liquids will make the room look neater visually.

Add Aesthetics

In rented housing or small apartments, people often try to add as much functionality as possible: 6 sq. m can accommodate a kitchen, laundry room, and sometimes even a child's workspace. Each zone can be enhanced with aesthetics.

Standard plastic boxes in a child's room make the décor look cheap and overly simple. Instead, you can buy children old chests or wooden rolling carts — they are both functional and stylish.

Home Staging: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Is your apartment monochrome and you can't change or afford the furniture? No problem! Buy a colorful shelf (or paint an existing one) and add some color and brightness to the dull interior.

You can also creatively transform existing furniture — repaint old chairs or update an old IKEA table.

Design: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

When there's no money for a full furniture update, what can you recommend?

Improve What You Have

Old sofas and armchairs can be reupholstered with new fabric, chairs can be refreshed or have ready-made slipcovers. Another option is to simply cover the item with fabric and tuck it under the furniture. Use this trick in combination with a throw blanket and decorative pillows — it creates harmony and style. Decorative pillows work wonders: they add 100 points to comfort in any room, and the cost is minimal.

Home Staging for Rent: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Cabinets and dressers can be repainted, custom color schemes and patterns created. There are many life hacks online on how to transform simple IKEA furniture: paint it, update the hardware — and you’ll have a nearly new cabinet.

Home Staging for Rent: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Even kitchen cabinets and tiles can be repainted — if there's desire and time.

Purchase a Few New Items

You don’t have to update everything: it's enough to buy a few new armchairs. This solves several major problems at once. First, it gives you the opportunity to slightly zone the space by separating part of it with armchairs.

Home Staging for Rent: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Secondly, you can add contrast and accents using armchairs of unusual colors. Creating comfort is easy by placing a few small footstools. The only limit is your imagination.

Update Textiles and Curtains

What to do if there's no place to put the armchairs? One of the most accessible ways to decorate is textiles. With today's wide selection, it’s easy to find options for every taste and budget.

The simplest way to refresh a bedroom interior is to buy a vibrant carpet. But it's much more interesting to go further: select bedding and pillows that match the color palette of the carpet, update window textiles. A few simple actions and you won’t recognize your room anymore.

Styling: Anastasia Gromova Designbox, design: Tech in House

Also don’t forget: adding patterns or rhythms to textiles can visually alter the space, introduce dynamism or, conversely, calm it down. For example, vertical striped curtains make ceilings appear higher. Curtains in yellow tones create an illusion that the sun is always shining outside.

Design: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Plan Lighting

Lighting plays a big role — it’s an important factor in creating comfort. Unfortunately, many don’t pay enough attention to lighting. Light can correct the dimensions of a room, highlight its strengths and hide flaws, as well as ensure comfort in the space.

Design: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Learn from Scandinavians who have at least 4–5 light sources in a room. A single chandelier (even a beautiful one) won't make the interior cozy: such lighting will emphasize all flaws, and one item is definitely not enough for comfort. Make sure to plan both overhead and ambient lighting. For each zone, choose appropriate sources — dimmable lights in open cabinet niches, a cozy floor lamp by the sofa, a point light for reading zone, and lighting for artwork.

Create Individuality

The last and most difficult step to master. The main goal is to turn an apartment into more than just a space with a set of functions and beautiful decor — it should be something special and memorable that reflects you.

What can you do? If you collect vinyl records, design a beautiful area so that upon entering the apartment, it’s clear: this is a place where record lovers live. It's important to include various items in the interior that reflect your personality, things you cherish and remind you of specific events.

Design: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

Decorate the walls with photos, paintings, wall hangings, decorative art items — let them not just hold up the ceiling but tell about the owner and their home. Mix them, but don't forget to unite the composition with frames in one style or color.

Design: Anastasia Gromova, Designbox

On how to add elegance to an interior with paint, top designer Ilya Gulyants spoke. Scroll down further.

Photo on the cover: Styling by Anastasia Gromova.